Music • May 29, 2025
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’S NEVER-RELEASED ‘INYO’ BRINGS RICHLY-WOVEN BORDER TALES TO ‘TRACKS II: THE LOST ALBUMS’

Bruce Springsteen’s latest preview of “Tracks II: The Lost Albums” arrives today with “Adelita,” an ode to Mexico’s female “soldaderas” — who played a major role in the country’s fight for independence. Inspired to explore themes of this nature in the 1990s, during a series of motorcycle trips across the Southwest, Springsteen’s years in California saw him diving into both the history of the region (including “La Adelita,” the “corrido” that serves as this song’s namesake) and its contemporary events. “There was constant border reporting in the Los Angeles Times, so it was a big part of your life,” he remembered. The results appear for the first time on “Tracks II” as “Inyo” — a previously-unheard, ten-song thematic collection set throughout the border states of California and Texas (plus one detour to New Jersey).
“‘Inyo’ was a record I wrote in California during long drives along the California aqueduct, up through Inyo County on my way to Yosemite or Death Valley,” recalled Springsteen. “I was enjoying that kind of writing so much. [On ‘The Ghost Of Tom Joad’ tour] I would go home to the hotel room at night and continue to write in that style because I thought I was going to follow up ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’ with a similar record, but I didn’t. That’s where ‘Inyo’ came from. It’s one of my favorites.”
While primarily tracked as a solo record, “Inyo” does notably find Springsteen collaborating with mariachi musicians throughout — as heard on “Adelita.” These musicians include Luis Villalobos, Alberto Villalobos, Angel Ramos, Humberto Manuel Flores Gutierrez, David Glukh, Jorge Espinosa and Miguel Ponce. Thematically, several songs on the record examine the Mexican diaspora, how border crossing between Mexico and the U.S. has affected generations and the cultural losses endured as a result. It’s a musical thread that Springsteen first began to examine by covering Ry Cooder’s “Across the Borderline” on his 1988 Tunnel of Love Express tour.
Pre-order “Tracks II: The Lost Albums.”

“The Lost Albums” will feature seven previously-unheard Bruce Springsteen records in full: “Inyo” as well as “Perfect World” (listen to “Rain in the River”), “Streets of Philadelphia Sessions” (listen to “Blind Spot”), “Faithless” (listen to the title track), “Somewhere North of Nashville” (listen to “Repo Man”), “Twilight Hours” and “LA Garage Sessions ’83.” The set will arrive in limited-edition nine LP, seven CD and digital formats — including distinctive packaging for each previously-unreleased record, with a 100-page cloth-bound, hardcover book featuring rare archival photos, liner notes on each lost album from essayist Erik Flannigan and a personal introduction on the project from Springsteen himself.